I'd say there is quite a lot of logic in it. Kubica is their reserve/development driver and is going to be doing a lot of sim work, and Williams have said they are expecting him to be quite active in terms of supporting the drivers and engineers. That is going to be vital for Williams given the lack of experience their driver line-up has, and it'll be a lot easier to do all of that if Kubica has actually been on-track and has some kind of feel for the car.

_________________"Clark came through at the end of the first lap so far ahead that we in the pits were convinced that the rest of the field must have been wiped out in an accident."-Eddie Dennis, describing the dominance of Jim Clark in the Lotus 49 at Spa 1967

Apparently the track has been resurfaced and so is less bumpy now, should be worth a second or more according to Autosport.

Bit disappointed Red Bull changed their livery back so soon, I thought the whole point of the special camo one was to be a testing livery, seems like a waste to go to all that trouble just for one filming day.

I don't think at this point there's much glory to be found. Need to be several seconds faster to even give that impression

i saw the super softs on and was thinking they were light fueled from the start. Couldn't really understand such a decision from the start unless you are trying to persuade sponsors.

We are probably going to see times in the 16-17 range as the best times of the test on low fuel. Considering the best time is currently a 21.3 I highly doubt any of these guys are on low fuel or full power.

Also the first days of the test are usually for checking that the car matches what they have predicted it was capable of so I'd be very surprised if McLaren were going for a glory run on the first morning of the first test.

I don't think at this point there's much glory to be found. Need to be several seconds faster to even give that impression

i saw the super softs on and was thinking they were light fueled from the start. Couldn't really understand such a decision from the start unless you are trying to persuade sponsors.

We are probably going to see times in the 16-17 range as the best times of the test on low fuel. Considering the best time is currently a 21.3 I highly doubt any of these guys are on low fuel or full power.

Also the first days of the test are usually for checking that the car matches what they have predicted it was capable of so I'd be very surprised if McLaren were going for a glory run on the first morning of the first test.

Yeah, if they were going to do it at any point on day one then I think it'd come towards the end of the first day, not straight out the box in the morning. Even then I don't think any team is going to be going for glory runs on the first day of the first test (particularly not if their car isn't even on-track ).

Incidentally, most laps completed in the first two hours of the test? The notoriously reliable Honda-powered Toro Rosso...

Incidentally, most laps completed in the first two hours of the test? The notoriously reliable Honda-powered Toro Rosso...

Least laps - Mclaren Renault - 6Most laps - Toro Rosso Honda - 44

Oh Fernando, you can't make this stuff up

another surprise is Renault at the top already lol. I think midfield is going to great this season. Mercedes and Ferrari will again be top teams and RBR little behind on 3rd. But hopefully the gap between the 3rd team and rest of the midfield will not be big this time

Wouldn’t it be something if Renault had one of the quickest cars?Honda’s reliability doesn’t shock me. It was about time. Performance will be paramount. So far they haven’t shown much of that. McLaren need to get their act together. That’s no way to start out 2018. Come on macca!

Last edited by kleefton on Mon Feb 26, 2018 12:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Honda did over 200 laps in one day, across two cars, the last time we tested. (Abu Dhabi in November)

_________________"Clark came through at the end of the first lap so far ahead that we in the pits were convinced that the rest of the field must have been wiped out in an accident."-Eddie Dennis, describing the dominance of Jim Clark in the Lotus 49 at Spa 1967